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etting your head around the basics of recording can be a daunting yet intensely satisfying undertaking. With increased experience you will have seen your home recordings go from strength to strength. Perhaps you even used the Beginner Home Studio Handbook, the companion to this Expert edition, to help you improve. Now you’re probably asking yourself, ‘How can I take my music and recording skills to the next level?’ This is where the Expert Home Studio Handbook comes in, offering you everything you need to enter the next stage of your recording journey. There’s no point spending hours on a track if it’s simply no good to begin with, so we start with songwriting advice from pro writers and composers Andy Burrows, Noel Gallagher, Frank Turner and James Morrison. If you’re a singer-songwriter without a drummer, we show you how to program beats with our handy tutorial. We’ll also show you how to turn your home into a fully functioning, acoustically treated recording space, complete with your very own control room. Our Buyer’s Guides will help you choose recording gear with confidence, before we move on to the finer details of arranging your studio space for recording. From backing up your music correctly to fixing common faults during the recording, mixing and mastering processes, our advice will ensure that you don’t waste valuable time when it comes to recording. We’ll also go in-depth on some amazing recording techniques for you to try with your own music; from achieving classic drum and vocal sounds, to getting creative with distortion and using alternative miking approaches, there’s a world of information waiting for you. You can learn how to give your tracks the professional finish they deserve with our comprehensive guides to EQ, Compression and Reverb, before wrapping your head around mastering. There are tutorial audio files for you to download, too, helping to guide you further. Whether you’re recording your own music or that of another artist or band, the Expert Home Studio Handbook will be your studio wingman from solid start to glorious finish. Claire Davies, editor
Editor-In-Chief Daniel Griffiths Editor Claire Davies assistant editor Chris Barnes Art Editor Andy McGregor production editor Chris Burke
All contents copyright © 2015 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence.All rights reserved.No part of this magazine may be reproduced,stored,transmitted or used in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England andWales. Registered office: Registered office: Quay House,TheAmbury,Bath,BA1 1UA.All information contained in this publication is for information only and is,as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press.Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information.You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or services referred to in this publication.Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control.We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them.If you submit unsolicited material to us,you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine,including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world.Any material you submit is sent at your risk and,although every care is taken,neither Future nor its employees,agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.
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Other contributors include: Simon Arblaster, Michael
Brown, Jono Buchanan, Skip Curtis, James Hester, Elena Kay, Tim Oliver, Rob Power, Ben Rogerson, Joe Rossiter, Mick Taylor, Ian Shepherd, Jeff Slate, Robbie Stamp, James Uings, Stuart Williams
expert home studio handbook | 3
contents
8
songwriting 8........ EXPERT SONGWRITING 12....... PRO RIFF WRITING 16....... how to pROGRAM BEATS 16
4 | expert home studio handbook
21
your studio 21....... build a hOME STUDIO
buyer’s guides 32...... handheld recorders 34...... audio interfaces 36...... monitors 38...... headphones 40...... microphones 44...... amplifiers 46...... electric guitars 50...... acoustic guitars 54...... bass guitars 56...... drum kits 58...... cymbals
setting up 62...... analogue vs digital 68...... back-up your music 72...... fix your studio 56
contents
122
96
recording 77....... classic drum sounds 80...... program percussion 86...... the three mic setup 88...... record huge guitars 90...... mid/side recording 96...... distortion explained 102.... pro vocal excercises 106.....classic vocal sounds 80
mixing & mastering
promote your music
115..... preparing your computer 143.....online music promotion 118..... guide to reverb 143 122.....guide to eq 128..... guide to compression 134..... pro mastering 128 115
expert home studio handbook | 5
songwriting
expert songwriting
I
n the beginning, there is The Song. Everything you’ll learn from this expert edition of the Home Studio Handbook will teach you how to put out a great-sounding track, but all of the studio trickery in the world can’t disguise a lacklustre song. To help get you on the right songwriting track from the beginning, we’ve enlisted the help of former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, now a highly regarded composer, solo artist and songwriter, who reveals his approach to songwriting, offering plenty of advice on how you can craft the perfect song. In addition, we have some ace writing tips from the likes of Noel Gallagher, Frank Turner and James Morrison. So grab your pen and paper and prepare to be inspired!
expert home studio handbook | 7
“I love the magic of songwriting, the combinations involved and the impossibilities” 8 | expert home studio handbook
© Andy Willsher
songwriting | Expert guide to songwriting
Expert guide to songwriting | songwriting
Expert guide to songwriting
Andy Burrows is one of the UK’s most tasteful songwriters. We recently spoke with Andy to learn more about his approach to songwriting, and how it can help you write your own songs
A
ndy Burrows rose to fame as the drummer for Razorlight, but it was when flexing his considerable writing chops on the band’s mega-hits including Before I Fall To Pieces and America that
How important is it to have a theoretical knowledge of other instruments, like bass or piano?
“I’m not sure it is. I flip between piano and acoustic guitar when writing, but writing is more about your imagination and freeing that up. I’m sure there have been some wonderful songs written by people who can just play three notes on one instrument. By the same token, there have been many beautiful and clever songs written by classically trained virtuosos. Perhaps it’s about having a magical combination of both? “I like the fact that I can play a few different things. I’m anti suggesting that there’s a right method, or that something will or won’t stand in your way when writing. It’s more about not letting anything get in your way in the first place, and then making sure your imagination is allowed to behave the way it did when you were a kid.”
Where do you start when writing? Does it begin with a chord progression, a lyric, or melody? “The most inspiring time is when one little line of lyric, a melody and even perhaps some chords present themselves all at once and the song
Razorlight properly exploded and Andy found a new calling. After leaving the band in 2009, Andy pursued a solo career, writing three albums of beautifully-crafted pop, in tandem with writing sessions alongside stars such as Tom Odell, and tackling
the score [with Ilan Eshkeri] for 2012’s festive hit The Snowman and the Snowdog. Here Andy talks about his songwriting process, and why sometimes imagination is more important than knowing the theory when you start writing.
has written itself. I feel like most songwriters will say that the most magical songs are the ones they didn’t know how they wrote. It’s more subconscious, relating to that thing I said about childhood imagination and letting it out. It’s about unblocking the stuff that’s stored deep down. “I’m not a big fan of waking up in the morning and being like, ‘Right, today I’m going to write a song’. I like to let the ideas that come in every day just happen, then with the stronger ones I’ll be like, ‘Ok, maybe I should go and sit down for five minutes and explore that’. It’s almost like they pass their own little exams throughout the day and then they get further along the development pool.”
“I’ve been very inspired by Tom Odell’s work ethic – he just keeps going at an idea until he’s happy. I don’t really know what my work ethic is. I could be perceived as being lazy, but I don’t think I am. I could be in the pub and have an idea and sing it into my phone. It wouldn’t bother me that I couldn’t run home to work on it right then. Everybody does it differently and that’s the most exciting thing about it.”
Many artists say that inspiration comes to them at all hours, sometimes waking them at night. Does that happen to you? “I don’t sleep much anyway. Most of the people I know who are brilliant songwriters immerse themselves in it to the point where they can’t exist in the world. I don’t like shutting myself off. I write in short bursts and if I’m not captivated by what I’m writing, I’ll give up or come back to it later.
Do you ever FIND THAT YOU suffer from writer’s block? “It affects me massively. There are two different types of writing: the spontaneous writing that just comes to you, and the more worked for version. It’s been a while since I’ve had that ‘fall from the sky’ track. I’ve got to the point now where I’m not so desperate to try and grab it. It’s a lovely magical feeling when you’re playing around and something appears – it’s almost like something comes over you. But you can’t force it.”
How do you know when you’ve written something good? Is it a gut feeling? “The last time I had that feeling was with a song called If I Had A Heart, from my
expert home studio handbook | 9
© Andy Willsher
songwriting | Expert guide to songwriting
Andy started his career as drummer in Razorlight, writing smash hit America record Company [2012]. That song just came to me; one of those things when a lyric and a melody and a chord just happen. You think, ‘Wow, that isn’t cheesy, it’s not crap, and I haven’t heard it before’, and it moves you. All of those things contribute to the feeling. I had that recently with Tom. It’s different working with another person. You catch each other’s eye at a certain point of writing something. It’s very rare that it happens, but when it does you get that moment of, ‘This is really good’. I think we all know when something is special.”
Do you think the ability to write songs is innate, or IS IT SOMETHING THAT CAN be learned? “It’s a combination of things. Obviously there has to be something there to begin with, whether that’s purely imagination, or purely musical ability, or both. The best writers are the ones with a great ability and some sort of musical skill, but imagination and a sense of ambition and wonderment.”
What do you think makes a REALLY great song? “What you want to get from a song is somebody else’s perspective on a subject you know well. I love the magic of
10 | expert home studio handbook
songwriting, the combinations involved, the impossibilities. Every time someone comes out with a genius song I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ It’s becoming slightly more difficult now [to write genius songs]. You can’t do I Want To Hold Your Hand because it’s already been done, but I don’t believe that means it’s all been done because then a song like Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know comes along. That’s a modern classic pop song. It sounds like Sting and The Police, but it hadn’t been done before.”
Are you a real instruments purist, or have you used digital instruments on your tracks? “I always prefer to have real instruments, but I don’t mind a bit of trickery here and there – sometimes blatant synth strings are fun! There are some tunes that use drum machines and they’re wicked. It’s a matter of right time, right place. Although, I’m not really into much music that doesn’t involve real instruments.”
Who are your main songwriting influences? “Neil Finn [Crowded House], and I love Damon Gough [Badly Drawn Boy] and Damon Albarn. Glen Tillbrook and Chris Difford of Squeeze, and also Paul
McCartney. I love the Beatles-y interpretation of someone like Neil Finn. You know, that lyrical intelligence and the beautiful melodies. I love it when you can hear how somebody else has been inspired by the same music you have been inspired by, like The Beatles, but they’ve taken it down a different road.”
What’s the most important thing when writing songs? “If you can find that sweet spot where you feel confident and can let your mind go, that’s when writing gets really good. It’s all in there, in you. It’s what you’re soaking up and putting out; what you unlock and when you unlock it. It’s about not being afraid to make a tit of yourself. Some of the greatest songwriters I’ve worked with are the people who are the most bolshy, bounding around and not really paying attention to things. “I wrote a fair bit with Andrew Wyatt. Me, him and Mark Ronson had a band for a short while and were writing a lot. Andrew fascinated me. He was almost like this big oaf, just knocking people over, then he’d play a s**t guitar solo and fall on his back because he was so into it, but every so often genius came out. In amongst all this buffoonery, he knew exactly what he was doing.”
Expert guide to songwriting | songwriting
Pro songwriting tips Noel Gallagher
Frank Turner
James Morrison
The High Flying Birds leader talks pottery and writing
The eternal quest for keeping your songwriting fresh
Why elaborate demos could kill your songs in the studio
Have your songwriting habits changed much
Has the way that you write songs changed over
How do you write? Is there a specific process
on your new High Flying Birds album Chasing
the last few years?
involved or not?
Yesterday? Did any songs start with loops,
“Yeah, it has. I’m trying to improve what I do, I’m
“Usually, the best stuff that I write is when a feeling
for example?
trying not to repeat myself, and there are lots of types
comes over me. You know, when you just look out
“No, never. It’s all me sitting with a guitar, watching
of song. You’ve got ballads and upbeat songs, there
the window late at night? Your mind is searching for
TV with the sound down. It’s like pottery or crafting,
are shuffles and fast songs… If I hear something
things. You want answers. It’s like that. I just play my
you know what I mean? You get a shape and then
that’s in a stylistic mode I haven’t tried myself, my
guitar and hum a melody, and if something happens
you make it better. You put some more water in and
first thought is, ‘I wonder if I could jam something
I’ll get a rough structure together, some chords, and
make it better and better until you can say, ‘Right,
into that approach?’ It keeps things fresh.”
I’ll let my subconscious ramble out lyrics.”
that’s finished. Let’s do another one.’” Your two solo albums have been more grooveand rhythm-based, with a broader scope than what you did with Oasis. Some fans might long for those days, though. Do you worry about that? “Before I start the record, I’ll do acoustic demos.
“Before I start to record I’ll do acoustic demos. I listen to them for quite a while before I actually commit to going in and recording the songs properly” Noel Gallagher
I listen to them for quite a while before I actually
Do you have a songwriting method?
Do you make elaborate demos? And what gear
commit to going in and recording the songs
“I don’t really. Sometimes lyrics comes first,
do you work with?
properly. I listen to them in all sorts of different
sometimes music comes first, sometimes it’s slow,
“I used to do elaborate demos, but I found that it got
guises: when I’m on a train, a plane, with
sometimes it’s fast, but my favourite moments are
in the way with trying to imagine it in the studio. You
headphones, in the bedroom, in the shower. I listen
when something comes quickly. I really feel like if
get that ‘demo-itis’ thing where you can’t get past
to them all over the f**king place. By the time I get
you’re running on pure instinct and gut, you’re
the demo. Now I keep everything really simple:
in to record them, I’ve got a fair idea of what I want
writing something good. If the song just kind of
acoustic guitar, a vocal, maybe some keys and bass.
to do with them. I’ve never really second-guessed
tumbles out, that’s way better than something
That’s the thing I try to do – write it and put it down
anything, because you can’t make records for your
you spend six months agonising over chord
in a simple way without all the production.
fans. You can’t do that. My fans would want 12
changes with.”
“Depending upon who I’m working with, I’ve been
versions of Wonderwall!”
using Pro Tools and Logic. I just try to get it in the pocket. On my second album, a lot of the demos got
Some people talk about guitars ‘having a lot
screwed over, the songs got missed, because the
of songs in them’, where they are especially
demos were either too produced or the sounds
inspiring for writing. Do you have a go-to
weren’t right.”
acoustic for songwriting?
James Morrison keeps his demos clear and simple
“No, I go for the other approach: I will have a guitar in my house for two years, but then I’ll think, ‘That’s all used up now.’ Then I’ll send it back to my lock-up and I’ll just pick another one at random. I’ll take it home, tune it up, clean it up. I think all guitars have got songs in them.
kind of dried up, so I’ll put that back in the lock-up and I’ll dig another one out to see if something comes from it.”
Frank Turner strives to keep his songs fresh stylistically
© ManxStef
Nash Strat[-type]. But the last six months it has
© CharlieTPhotographic
“Sometimes I’ll want to have an acoustic at home for years. For the last couple of years it’s been this
expert home studio handbook | 11
Guitar riff writing 101
Learn the basic scales and chords to help you write great riffs today with these handy exercises. Plus, get writing advice from rock and metal’s most prolific riff writers!
R
iffs are the backbone of rock. Whether they last for just a single bar, like Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses, or they hold on for two bars or more, like Song 2 by Blur, riffs are powerful. In order to get your riff-writing juices flowing, you’ll need to do some groundwork first. In this feature you will learn the basic scales and chords for constructing your own riffs, and how to develop short riffs into longer musical ideas. We’ll also bring in the likes of Joe Perry, Mark Morton and Tom Morello to talk about how they’ve
written some of rock and metal’s most memorable riffs.
Step one: nail the minor pentatonic scale This is one of the most popular scales to
create riffs with. Example one shows two patterns of the E minor pentatonic scale – the first pattern of the scale is the most common so learn it off by heart. While the second scale pattern is less common, it’s used a lot in rock and metal music and you can develop it right up to the top end of the fretboard to create more dynamic riffs. This means you will have more
scope for using bends, slides and vibrato – elements that add extra character to your riffs. Example two shows a riff that uses the second pattern of the E minor pentatonic scale. On your first go, play the riff without the slides or vibrato. Now add them into the riff and you’ll be able to hear how much these techniques add to a riff’s effectiveness. Another common device, particularly used in blues, is to take a riff and move the fretboard pattern to another starting note. Example three shows a minor pentatonic riff that moves to follow an eight-bar blues pattern.
Example one E minor pentatonic scale in two positions
Play through the two positions of the scale to get used to its different sounds, but experiment with your own riffs. You can play the notes in any order you choose.
Example two one-bar riff
Play the first note with your first finger and slide into the third note with your third finger. Don’t pay too much attention to the slide from the final note, as this will happen naturally when you move to start the riff again. 12 | expert home studio handbook
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